And Death Walked In Chapter 1
by FleshSac
Summary: pretty much the first thing i've ever written.. will try to lean towards humor, but who know? let me know if i should continue. please r+r


...And Death Walked In  
  
Prologue  
  
  
The door opened and Death walked in.  
  
It wandered around the room for awhile, admiring the hanging plants and some of the more vividly colored paintings before finally having a seat in the small waiting room. There were six others in the waiting room already, though none of them seemed to pay him any mind... nobody ever did.  
  
It wasn't that Death couldn't be seen, just that there seemed to be no reason to look at him. There were really no defining characteristics to Death, except for the fact that he was indeed a he. Death was, in fact, the most bland looking being on the planet. His face was as nondescript as could be, his blondish-brown hair parted at the side and combed back as so many others comb it. Death kept his clothes simple: a white long sleeved button-up shirt, brown slacks, black shoes, and a brown courdoroy jacket, complete with the patches on the elbows.  
  
Death really liked those patches on the elbows.  
  
And so, as has been said, there was no reason for anyone to look at Death. He was just too plain to acknowledge. Even when he spoke, which he was known to do, it was in a plain voice. Not monotone... that would be something to comment about. No, when Death spoke every word was accentuated exactly how you'd think it should be. There was no extra volume to any syllable, nor a lack of volume for any... it was just right. If someone was to write down how Death spoke, it would most likely be written with no capital letters.. that's how it was.  
  
So there he was, sitting in a waiting room with six other people who had, up until this point, barely glanced in his direction. Partly because they were preoccupied, partly because, as was stated, there was no reason to, but mostly because none of them were actually looking for death at the moment.  
  
Which was, of course, strange.  
  
Death usually didn't show up uninvited.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
  
Quistis sighed and put her head in her hands.  
  
Since being reinstated part-time as an instuctor, she had found several reasons to resign. The two biggest being Fujin and Raijin.  
  
Quistis stood up, put her hands on the desk and made a suggestion.  
  
"Would you two SHUT UP!?!?"  
  
Raijin was, as always, the first to plead his case to her.  
  
"Fujin started it, ya know?"  
  
"LIES."  
  
"No way... you kicked me, ya know, and OW! There! Ya see? She did it again!"  
  
"PROVOKED."  
  
Quistis sighed again and sat back down. "I feel that my only choice is to separate you both."  
  
The sudden silence that followed was welcome, albeit short lived.  
  
Raijin recovered from his terrorfied silence first. "That's harsh, ya know. We're sorry.. it won't happen again."  
  
"NEVER."  
  
Quistis couldn't possibly begin to imagine how many times she had heard this before, but in truth she was actually more frightened of what they would do if she actually did separate them than she was of their constant disruptions to the class. Besides, she had humbled them for the moment, and that was usually good for an hour or two of acceptable behaviour from them.  
  
"Very well, but next time there will be no warning, I'll let headmaster Cid deal with you instead."  
  
Both Fujin and Raijin visibly sagged with relief and sat back down.  
  
Quistis looked up at the clock. An hour and a half until lunch.  
  
She'd survive another day.  
  
***  
  
Squall was in the cafeteria flipping through the newest issue of Weapons Monthly when the commotion started.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?"  
  
"You heard me, chicken-wuss."  
  
He rolled his eyes, removed his feet from the table and thought to himself, "Great.. Seifer and Zell... again." By the time he reached the two of them they were rolling on the floor beating each other senseless. He was willing to bet money that Zell had started this one.. this wasn't Seifer's type of fight, and it was showing by the bruises rapidly appearing on his face.  
  
Zell managed to get Seifer's arms pinned underneath his weight and held his fist up, ready to strike. "TAKE IT BACK!!"  
  
Seifer's lack of an immediate response earned him yet another bruise.  
  
Zell's fist went back into the air. "TAKE. IT. BACK!!!"  
  
"Alright, alright... you aren't the poster boy for the harm that too many hot dogs can do to a person. Happy? Now get the hell off of me!"  
  
Zell was grinning ear to ear as he stood up. "ALRIGHT!!" He saw some of the new female students and posed for them. "Didja see that ladies? Zell Dincht is the name.. and if you're looking for a real man, look no further." His face fell when all that his posing got him were a few snickers amongst the onlookers.  
  
"Aw, man."  
  
Seifer had, by this time, stood up and brushed himself off. Zell may have won this paticular battle, but Seifer was still winning the war, and he intended to redeem himself.  
  
"Well, Zell, you may not be the poster boy for an anti-hot dog rally, but you will always be a chicken-wuss."  
  
Squall managed to grab Zell's collar just before the fight resumed.  
  
"Can't you two make it through a single day without going to the nurse?"  
  
Seifer took this opportunity to deepen the wound. "What's the matter, chicken-wuss? Won't mommy let you come out to play? Well, if she does, i'll be in the training center waiting for you."   
  
Zell was spewing out a stream of obseneties at Seifer's back as he left.  
  
"C'mon Squall, you're making me look bad in front of the ladies."  
  
Squall led Zell over to his table and sat him down.  
  
"Look, you know that Cid an Edea have charged me with keeping this place running smoothly. I can't do it with you constantly fighting with Seifer."  
  
Zell looked down at his hands. "Yeah, I know, but it's so boring around here now that the sorceress is gone.. I need some action every now and then."  
  
"Then go to the training center. You're setting a bad example for the new students, and I..."  
The loudspeakers had come to life, and the headmaster spoke.  
  
"Hello everyone, this is Headmaster Cid speaking. I know we're still going through a transitional phase here while we try to make this into a fully functional base of operations for the new 'Neo SeeD' program, but I just want you all to do your best to make this go as smoothly as possible." At this, Squall looked hard at Zell, who in turn found something very interesting about one of his boots to look at. "I want all of the senior students to look after and guide all the new ones, and help out in anyway that you can. We can make this happen. I am proud of you all.. thank you and have a nice day. Oh! I almost forgot.. would Squall and Rinoa please come to my office as soon as possible? Headmaster Cid out."  
Squall stood up and grabbed his magazine.  
  
"What now?"  
  
Zell waited a full minute after Squall was gone before he broke into a sprint towards the training center.  
  
***  
  
Rinoa was in her (or was it their?) room when the announcement was made. She walked toward the elevator with a smile on her face, looking at her ring every few steps. She couldn't help it.. it made her so happy. It looked just like the ones that she and Squall wore on their necklaces.. but this one was gold, and it meant something so much more. The lions head looked magesticly back at her and seemed to say something. She, of course, knew what it said. It said "engagement." She had to keep herself from dancing just thinking about it.   
  
She and Squall would be married in the spring.. almost a full year from now. Rinoa wanted it to be sooner, but Squall wanted to wait until the Neo SeeDs were in full operation, and she understood. He was needed here, and so was she. After all, she was one of the five people directly under Squall in command along with Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine. She had found that, even though she was the weakest of them in battle, she had quite a knack for thinking rationally on matters that the others couldn't... especially in the heat of battle.  
  
As she neared the elevator, she wondered what Cid wanted. He usually called all six of them to his office at the same time.. this would be the first time that only she and Squall were called. What if something was wrong? Were they in trouble again?  
  
The sun caught the gold of her ring, and the thoughts slid from her mind as quickly as they had come.  
  
She was getting married!  
  
***  
  
Squall was already in the headmaster's office by the time Rinoa got there, along with the headmaster and Edea. As she walked in, Squall turned and gave her a smile.   
  
Cid cleared his throat.   
  
"Ahem. I called you two here because I thought that you could handle this the most rationally. Edea?"  
The one-time sorceress stepped forward and addressed the betrothed couple.  
  
"I'm afraid that we may have a problem. You both know that I gave up my sorceress powers in order to lead a normal life, and so that life itself could continue."  
  
Squall and Rinoa both nodded. They knew this all too well, and the very mention of it stirred up some disturbing memories. Edea's forboding way of speeking wasn't helping either. She continued.  
"Well.. they've been returning."  
  
Squall looked as if he'd seen a ghost. "Wha.. What?"  
  
Edea looked like she was about to break down and cry for a moment before quickly regaining her composure.  
  
"Not in full.. just some power.. just enough that I know it's there. I'm not afraid for me, but I know that something is coming.. soon."  
  
"What is it? Tell us!" Rinoa tried to calm Squall down, but to no avail. "If your powers are coming back, then that means that Rinoa could be in danger again! I almost lost her once, I'm not about to lose her again."  
  
The headmaster spoke again. "That's why you two were called. Rinoa may be in danger again, but we're not sure. I think you may have misunderstood, though. Edea is not getting her powers back, she's just getting.. visions.. like she did when she had her powers."  
  
Edea looked Squall directly in the eyes. "Something is coming, Squall.. something big. It may already be here, I don't know. I just think that you should get everyone together and make sure that they're ready. Cid and I have.. we have.. ugh...."  
  
Cid caught Edea as she fell.  
  
"Edea? Edea what is it!?"  
  
Edea opened her eyes. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"It's here."  
  
***  
  
Selphie and Irvine were lying on the grass outside of the garden, enjoying the day in each other's arms when the sky opened up and Hell stepped though.  
  
  
  
*notes*   
this is the just a beginning... let me know if you want me to continue.. if you do.. give me some suggestions on some stuff you'd like to see.. characters, villians, social structure, anything.. I really don't know where I'm going with this at the moment, so if you have any ideas, throw em at me.. this is the first thing i've written, and with the exception of the death thing (and yes, there is a point to that) everything was written as i went. any ideas that i use, i will credit to the creator at the end of each chapter. hope ya like it.  
  



End file.
